Marquez makes history in Thailand as the first rider to take pole from Q1; Pedrosa in close seventh

Never one to take the easy route, Marc Marquez today scored the first MotoGP pole ever at the Buriram Circuit, at the same time becoming the first rider to earn pole position from Q1! His umpteenth historic result is also his 50th pole in the Premier class, the 78th in his career.

Marc had to go trough Q1 after suffering a crash at Turn 4 during his final flying lap of FP3, in which he finished just outside the top 10, in P11.

Dani Pedrosa was sixth in FP3, and although he was able to improve in qualifying, he was just 0.039” away from the second row and 0.370” from pole.

Tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Thailand will get underway at 2 p.m. local time, 9 a.m. Central Europe Time.

Marc Marquez

Pole1'30.088

“It’s fantastic to be on pole, and it seems it’s a record to have done so going trough Q1 but I honestly would have preferred to pass directly to Q2! This morning we were very unlucky because when we fitted the new rear tyre at the end of FP3, we had a little issue and had to quickly swap to the other bike. It wasn’t the same, and I lost the front while I was improving my lap time. Anyway, after that we managed everything in a good way, and in QP1 I was able to ride very well. We’re very happy because a front-row start was our target. Now we have a very important race tomorrow, and a very long one. I’m happy with my race pace but we must wait and see what the conditions are like and where we and our opponents are. On paper, at the moment there are a few riders who should be able to be fast. It will be important to manage the tyres and the physical conditions well. Our target will be the podium.”

Dani Pedrosa

7th1'30.458

“Today in qualifying I lacked a couple of tenths on my flying lap, and that was enough to be just off of the two first rows. Our first tyre wasn’t as good as the second one, and we had to play all our cards in our final run. I managed to improve my performance, and that was actually my best lap of the weekend, but it still wasn’t enough. Anyway, we’re closing the gap to the top, and that’s the positive part. For the race, we’ll see. I think the rear-tyre choice is still open, so we need to analyse everything very well before making our decision for tomorrow.”

MotoGP 2018Saturday, October 6th 2018

Qualifying
Round 15
Thailand Grand PrixThailand

Qualifying Classification

Sunny

Pos.

Rider

Num

Nation

Team

Constructor

Time/Gap

1

Marquez Marc

93

SPA

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

1'30.088

2

Rossi Valentino

46

ITA

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

1'30.099 / 0.011

3

Dovizioso Andrea

4

ITA

Mission Winnow Ducati

Ducati

1'30.227 / 0.139

4

Vinales Maverick

25

SPA

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

1'30.328 / 0.240

5

Crutchlow Cal

35

GBR

LCR Honda

Honda

1'30.356 / 0.268

6

Iannone Andrea

29

ITA

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

1'30.419 / 0.331

7

Pedrosa Dani

26

SPA

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

1'30.458 / 0.370

8

Zarco Johann

5

FRA

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

1'30.471 / 0.383

9

Petrucci Danilo

9

ITA

Pramac Racing

Ducati

1'30.599 / 0.511

10

Miller Jack

43

AUS

Pramac Racing

Ducati

1'30.660 / 0.572

11

Rins Alex

42

SPA

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

1'30.738 / 0.650

12

Bautista Alvaro

19

SPA

Angel Nieto Team

Ducati

1'30.976 / 0.888

13

Morbidelli Franco

21

ITA

EG 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

1'30.923 Q1

14

Nakagami Takaaki

30

JPN

LCR Honda

Honda

1'30.995 / 0.964

15

Smith Bradley

38

GBR

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

1'31.207 / 1.176

16

Espargaro Aleix

41

SPA

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

1'31.243 / 1.212

17

Abraham Karel

17

CZE

Angel Nieto Team

Ducati

1'31.374 / 1.343

18

Syahrin Hafizh

55

MAL

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

1'31.389 / 1.358

19

Espargaro Pol

44

SPA

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

1'31.399 / 1.368

20

Simeon Xavier

10

BEL

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

1'31.686 / 1.655

21

Torres Jordi

81

SPA

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

1'31.819 / 1.788

22

Luthi Tom

12

SWI

EG 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

1'31.830 / 1.799

23

Redding Scott

45

GBR

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

1'31.835 / 1.804

Gallery

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Location Information

Designed by German architect Herman Tilke, the Buriram International Circuit opened in 2014 and will see MotoGP™ making its debut this season. Located around 410km northeast from the country’s capital of Bangkok, the town of Buriram in the Buriram province literally translates into “city of happiness”, and its typically hot… read more.

Location Information

Designed by German architect Herman Tilke, the Buriram International Circuit opened in 2014 and will see MotoGP™ making its debut this season. Located around 410km northeast from the country’s capital of Bangkok, the town of Buriram in the Buriram province literally translates into “city of happiness”, and its typically hot… read more.